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The Boring Company event sneak peak: venue, tunneling machine, completed watchtower

(Photo: Tom Cross/Teslarati)

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After months of operating underground, The Boring Company is coming to the surface with the unveiling event of its test tunnel in Hawthorne, CA. The Boring Company is set to livestream Tuesday’s opening party, as Elon Musk presents what could very well be the first step towards a future connected with ultra-high-speed tunnels.

The Boring Company’s tunnel unveiling event is poised to feature a lot of fun,  lighthearted activities, as represented by the multi-story medieval watchtower constructed on the opening party’s venue. The idea of the watchtower came from one of Elon Musk’s playful Twitter sessions, where he announced that the tunneling startup would be building a watchtower on the Los Angeles site, where a person dressed as a knight would be tasked to “yell insults at people in a French accent” to passers-by — a reference to one of the most memorable scenes in the classic comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

The Boring Company’s completed watchtower. (Photo: Pauline Acalin/Teslarati)

The watchtower was constructed in a quick and clever manner, with the Boring Co. utilizing a metal framework overlaid with pre-made sections of Boring Bricks. Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin has followed the tower’s construction over the past couple of weeks, and returning to the site on Monday, she was able to capture images of a fully-constructed watchtower, complete with wooden window shutters and more refined brickwork.

Driving by the site on Monday night, Pauline and fellow Teslarati photographer Tom Cross were able to capture more images of the opening party’s venue. Pictures and video taken of the site reveal that The Boring Company is already setting up the lights and the sound system for the event.  Some details of Elon Musk’s completed Monty Python-style watchtower, such as torches on both sides of the structure’s wooden doors, could also be seen. Furthermore, The Boring Company appears to have laid some accent lighting on a tunnel boring machine currently under construction, which is set to be utilized for its high-profile Chicago tunneling project.

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The venue for The Boring Company’s opening event on Tuesday, December 18, 2018. (Photo: Tom Cross/Teslarati)

The Boring Company’s test tunnel unveiling event on Tuesday stands as a milestone for the young startup. Elon Musk, for one, noted in a tweet earlier this month that the December 18 product launch will be “more than a tunnel opening.” Seemingly teasing some progress on a garage-elevator concept that the company is building near the SpaceX headquarters, Musk also stated that the event would “include modded but fully road legal autonomous transport cars & ground to tunnel car elevators.” Free test rides would be offered to the public after the tunnel unveiling event as well.

While The Boring Company is considered more as one of Elon Musk’s more fun hobbies, the startup has been extending its reach nonetheless. The company, for one, beat out more experienced rivals when it was selected to construct a high-speed transport line that would connect downtown Chicago to O’Hare airport. Recent permits from Hawthorne also reveal that The Boring Company is opening The Brick Store, a physical location that will sell Boring Bricks, which could be used for fun projects or low-cost construction and are made from tunneling rock.

Be sure to follow along on Twitter as we take you behind the scenes at The Company unveiling. For now, enjoy this 6-minute footage from Tom and Pauline as they scouted the site of tonight’s opening party.

https://twitter.com/_TomCross_/status/1074869183454691329

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk drops massive bomb about Cybercab

“And there is so much to this car that is not obvious on the surface,” Musk said.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk dropped a massive bomb about the Cybercab, which is the company’s fully autonomous ride-hailing vehicle that will enter production later this year.

The Cybercab was unveiled back in October 2024 at the company’s “We, Robot” event in Los Angeles, and is among the major catalysts for the company’s growth in the coming years. It is expected to push Tesla into a major growth phase, especially as the automaker is transitioning into more of an AI and Robotics company than anything else.

The Cybercab will enable completely autonomous ride-hailing for Tesla, and although its other vehicles will also be capable of this technology, the Cybercab is slightly different. It will have no steering wheel or pedals, and will allow two occupants to travel from Point A to Point B with zero responsibilities within the car.

Tesla shares epic 2025 recap video, confirms start of Cybercab production

Details on the Cybercab are pretty face value at this point: we know Tesla is enabling 1-2 passengers to ride in it at a time, and this strategy was based on statistics that show most ride-hailing trips have no more than two occupants. It will also have in-vehicle entertainment options accessible from the center touchscreen.

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It will also have wireless charging capabilities, which were displayed at “We, Robot,” and there could be more features that will be highly beneficial to riders, offering a full-fledged autonomous experience.

Musk dropped a big hint that there is much more to the Cybercab than what we know, as a post on X said that “there is so much to this car that is not obvious on the surface.”

As the Cybercab is expected to enter production later this year, Tesla is surely going to include a handful of things they have not yet revealed to the public.

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Musk seems to be indicating that some of the features will make it even more groundbreaking, and the idea is to enable a truly autonomous experience from start to finish for riders. Everything from climate control to emergency systems, and more, should be included with the car.

It seems more likely than not that Tesla will make the Cybercab its smartest vehicle so far, as if its current lineup is not already extremely intelligent, user-friendly, and intuitive.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla Q4 delivery numbers are better than they initially look: analyst

The Deepwater Asset Management Managing Partner shared his thoughts in a post on his website.

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Credit: Tesla Asia/X

Longtime Tesla analyst and Deepwater Asset Management Managing Partner Gene Munster has shared his insights on Tesla’s Q4 2025 deliveries. As per the analyst, Tesla’s numbers are actually better than they first appear. 

Munster shared his thoughts in a post on his website. 

Normalized December Deliveries

Munster noted that Tesla delivered 418k vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2025, slightly below Street expectations of 420k but above the whisper number of 415k. Tesla’s reported 16% year-over-year decline, compared to +7% in September, is largely distorted by the timing of the tax credit expiration, which pulled forward demand.

“Taking a step back, we believe September deliveries pulled forward approximately 55k units that would have otherwise occurred in December or March. For simplicity, we assume the entire pull-forward impacted the December quarter. Under this assumption, September growth would have been down ~5% absent the 55k pull-forward, a Deepwater estimate tied to the credit’s expiration.

For December deliveries to have declined ~5% year over year would imply total deliveries of roughly 470k. Subtracting the 55k units pulled into September results in an implied December delivery figure of approximately 415k. The reported 418k suggests that, when normalizing for the tax credit timing, quarter-over-quarter growth has been consistently down ~5%. Importantly, this ~5% decline represents an improvement from the ~13% declines seen in both the March and June 2025 quarters.

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Tesla’s United States market share

Munster also estimated that Q4 as a whole might very well show a notable improvement in Tesla’s market share in the United States. 

“Over the past couple of years, based on data from Cox Automotive, Tesla has been losing U.S. EV market share, declining to just under 50%. Based on data for October and November, Cox estimates that total U.S. EV sales were down approximately 35%, compared to Tesla’s just reported down 16% for the full quarter.  For the first two months of the quarter, Cox reported Tesla market share of roughly a 65% share, up from under 50% in the September quarter.

“While this data excludes December, the quarter as a whole is likely to show a material improvement in Tesla’s U.S. EV market share.

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Elon Musk

Tesla analyst breaks down delivery report: ‘A step in the right direction’

“This will be viewed as better than feared deliveries and a step in the right direction for the Tesla story heading into 2026,” Ives wrote.

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush released a new note on Friday morning just after the company released production and delivery figures for Q4 and the full year of 2025, stating that the numbers, while slightly underwhelming, are “better than feared” and as “a step in the right direction.”

Tesla reported production of 434,358 and deliveries of 418,227 for the fourth quarter, while 1,654,667 vehicles were produced and 1,636,129 cars were delivered for the full year.

Tesla releases Q4 and FY 2025 vehicle delivery and production report

Interestingly, the company posted its own consensus figures that were compiled from various firms on its website a few days ago, where expectations were set at 1,640,752 cars for the year. Tesla fell about 4,000 units short of that. One of the areas where Tesla excelled was energy deployments, which totaled 46.7 GWh for the year.

In terms of vehicle deliveries, Ives writes that Tesla certainly has some things to work through if it wants to return to growth in that aspect, especially with the loss of the $7,500 tax credit in the U.S. and “continuous headwinds” for the company in Europe.

However, Ives also believes that, given the delivery numbers, which were on par with expectations, Tesla is positioned well for a strong 2026, especially with its AI focus, Robotaxi and Cybercab development, and energy:

“This will be viewed as better than feared deliveries and a step in the right direction for the Tesla story heading into 2026. We look forward to hearing more at the company’s 4Q25 call on January 28th. AI Valuation – The Focus Throughout 2026. We believe Tesla could reach a $2 trillion market cap over the coming year and, in a bull case scenario, $3 trillion by the end of 2026…as full-scale volume production begins with the autonomous and robotics roadmap…The company has started to test the all-important Cybercab in Austin over the past few weeks, which is an incremental step towards launching in 2026 with important volume production of Cybercabs starting in April/May, which remains the golden goose in unlocking TSLA’s AI valuation.”

It’s no secret that for the past several years, Tesla’s vehicle delivery numbers have been the main focus of investors and analysts have looked at them as an indicator of company health to a certain extent. The problem with that narrative in 2025 and 2026 is that Tesla is now focusing more on the deployment of Full Self-Driving, its Optimus project, AI development, and Cybercab.

While vehicle deliveries still hold importance, it is more crucial to note that Tesla’s overall environment as a business relies on much more than just how many cars are purchased. That metric, to a certain extent, is fading in importance in the grand scheme of things, but it will never totally disappear.

Ives and Wedbush maintained their $600 price target and an ‘Outperform’ rating on the stock.

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